Wire forming hand tool

ABSTRACT

One of the jaws of a pair of pliers is provided with a pivoted die head on which a piece of wire can be bent to various predetermined configurations by a die pin mounted on the other jaw and forceably urged against the interposed wire by a single closing movement of the plier handles. With a partial squeeze of the handles the wire can be bent to a V- or a U-shape, and with a full squeeze, a closed and centered terminal loop can be formed.

United States Patent [191 Story 1 Jan. 21, 1975 WIRE FORMING HAND TOOL Primary Examiner-Lowell A. Larson I t l t S t R If. [75] nven or E Wm G S an a 08a Ca 1 Attorney, Agent, or FirmLothrop & West [73] Assignee: Charles F. Lyons, Olympic Valley,

' Calif. a part interest ABSTRACT [22] Flled: 1973 One of the jaws of a pair of pliers is provided with a [21] Appl. No.: 412,729 pivoted die head on which a piece of wire can be bent to various predetermined configurations by a die pin [52] U S Cl 140/106 140/104 mounted on the other jaw and forceably urged against [51] i 1/00 the interposed wire by a single closing movement of [58] Fie'ld 104 106 the plier handles. With a partial squeeze of the handles the wire can be bent to a V- or a U-shape, and [56] References Cited with a full squeeze, a closed and centered terminal loop can be formed.

2 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures WIRE FORMING HAND TOOL The prior art discloses various hand-actuated devices for forming loops, and the like, in a piece of wire. Huber et al. US. Pat. No. 2,934,100 is exemplary. There is always a need, however, for a wire forming tool which is not only versatile in being able to bend wire accurately to various desired configurations with a single squeezing movement, but which is also compact in size and readily carried around in the customary waist kit worn by many electricians.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a wire forming hand tool which enables a wire, such as an electrical conductor, readily and precisely to be shaped to any one of a desired number of configurations.

It is another object of the invention to provide a wire forming hand tool which is light in weight, compact in size and economical in price.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a hand tool which is capable of forming wire into a variety of shapes and which is therefore useful in many trades and lines of business where wire is used.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a generally improved wire forming hand tool.

Other objects, together with the foregoing, are attained in the embodiment described in the following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric perspective view;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the wire forming head and die pin;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the wire forming head and die, to an enlarged scale, showing the wire in initial position;

FIG. 4 is a view comparable to FIG. 3 but showing the wire formed to a V-shape;

FIG. 5 is a view comparable to FIG. 3 but with the wire formed to a U-shape, or hook bend;

FIG. 6 is a view comparable to FIG. 3 but with the wire formed to a closed, centered terminal loop, or eye; and,

FIG. 7 is a view comparable to FIG. 3, but showing a running piece of wire with a U-bend formed therein.

While the wire forming hand tool of the invention is susceptible of numerous physical embodiments, depending upon the environment and requirements of use, substantial numbers of the herein shown and described embodiment have been made, tested and used, and all have performed in an eminently satisfactory manner.

The tool of the invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 11, comprises a pair of pliers 12, with pivotally connected handles 13 and 14 movable about a pivot pin 15.

On one of the jaws 16 of the pliers is a tapered die pin 17 mounted with its axis 18 substantially coincident with the axis of the jaw 16 which, itself, includes a ta pered head 19 with an overhanging portion 21 extending laterally beyond the center plane 22 formed by the face to face relatively movable surfaces 23 and 24 of the respective plier handles 13 and 14. A conventional wire cutter shears wire placed therein at right angles to the center plane 22.

The die pin 17 is forcefully urged, by closure of the handles firmly gripped in the user's hand, against a piece of wire 27 placed against an opposed die head 28 mounted on the other one of the jaws 16.

In the sequence shown in FIGS. 3-6, the forming of a terminal loop 30 in an end portion 31 of wire is shown.

In FIG. 7, on the other hand, a continuous, or running portion 32 of wire is illustrated, to show how a U- shaped bend 33 is formed in a wire at any desired location along the wire 32.

The die head 28 provides a pivoted crescent shaped anvil 29 on which the interposed wire 27 (see FIG. 2) is formed as force is exerted by the die pin 17 as a result of gripping and squeezing the plier handles 13 and 14. By urging the die pin 17 inwardly (see arrow 35) to ward the open mouth 36 of an inwardly converging channel 37 in the crescent shaped anvil 29, the wire lodges in the adjacent corners 39 of a pair of fore and aft grooves 41 in the respective opposed pair of walls 42 defining the channel 37. As forward, or inward, movement of the die pin 17 continues, the wire 27 is bent to the V-shaped configuration 45 illustrated most clearly in FIG. 4, with the wire disposed in and assuming the acute angle formed by the grooves 41.

Still further inward movement of the die pin 17 in response to continued squeezing of the plier handles deforms the wire into the U-shaped configuration 47 shown in FIG. 5, as a result of the metal deformation provided by the co-action of the pin 17 and the two opposed inner grooved corners 48 of the crescent arms 49.

For some purposes, either the V-shaped bend 45 or the open U-shaped hook 47 is all that the user desires, in which event the forming operation can be terminated either at the juncture depicted in FIG. 4, or in FIG. 5, respectively, after which, the plier jaws can be opened and the wire removed.

In the usual case, however, the operator will wish to bend the wire end 31 into the closed and centered terminal loop 30. In this case, squeezing of the handles is continued beyond the point shown in FIG. 5 wherein the forwardmost tip 51 of the open, U-shaped hook 47 abuts the fulcrum 52 of the two opposed and pivoted crescent arms 49.

The two arms 49 of the die head 28 are pivoted on pins 54 anchored in an underlying base 56 located at the end of the other one of the plier jaws 16.

Each of the crescent arms 49 abuts the other along the central, or median, plane 22 when the arms are in the closed position shown in FIGS. 3-5. A resilient closure member 61, such as an elastomeric O-ring, or coil spring, mounted on pins 62 secured to the arms 49, urges the two opposed arms 49 into closed position.

The force provided by squeezing the handles 13 and 14 can, with some additional effort, pry apart the abutting faces 63 of the arms 49 as shown in FIG. 6. In other words, the additional inward force exerted by the die pin 17 against the wire urges the tip 51 of the wire against the fulcrum 52, pushing the fulcrum 52 ahead and opposing the urgency of the elastic member 61 with a force equal to the pin force times the movement arm 66 measured by the distance between the central median plane 22 and the center of the respective one of the pivot pins 54, the pins 54 substantially lying on an axis 67 perpendicular to the plane 22.

As the abutting faces 63 of the arms 49 are spread apart against the closing urgency of the elastic member 61, the opposed walls 68 of a central cavity 69 in the die head are urged toward each other, embracing the interposed portions of the open hook 47 shown in FIG. 5 and deforming the wire into the closed and centered terminal loop 30 illustrated in FIG. 6. In other words, with the two crescent arms 49 in their normally unstressed attitude shown in FIGS. 3-5, the central cavity 69 is elliptical in shape with the long axis perpendicular to the central plane 22 and parallel to the pivot pin axis 67 (see FIG. 4). After the arms 49 are spread apart, by pivoting about the pins 54 and the fulcrum 52, the elliptical walls 68 close toward each other so that the elliptical cavity 69 becomes substantially circular in configuration, the enclosed wire being accordingly deformed by the cavity die walls 68 into the desired closed and centered circular shape.

At this juncture, the handles 13 and 14 can be opened, thereby releasing the force exerted by the die pin 17 against the anvil surfaces of the die head and allowing the elastic member 61 to restore the crescent arms 49 to base position. The wire can thereupon be removed from the pin with a precisely and accurately formed closed and centered terminal loop formed thereon.

FIG. 7 discloses the manner in which a U-shaped bend 33 can be formed at any desired location in a continuous piece of wire. The continuous wire 32 is first located in the tool in the general fashion illustrated in FIG. 3. The handles 13 and 14 are then squeezed together until the die pin 17 and the cooperating die head 28 deform the wire into the desired configuration as appears in FIG. 7. As will be obvious, by exerting still further effort, the U-shaped bend 33 can readily be bent further to a closed type of loop, somewhat comparable to the loop of FIG. 6 but with the ends of the closed bight, or loop, located on each side of the center plane 22 as indicated in broken line in FIG. 7 and identified by the reference numeral 76.

It can therefore be seen that I have provided a wire forming hand tool which is not only convenient to carry and handy to operate, but which is also versatile in that it can be used to bend a piece of wire into a considerable variety of desired configurations, and with merely a single, continuous unidirectional squeezing movement.

What is claimed is:

1. A wire forming hand tool comprising:

a. a pair of pliers with pivoted handles carrying two jaws for relative movement in a single plane toward and away from each other in response to hand action;

b. A die head mounted on one of said jaws, said die head including substantially crescent-shaped plate means divided into two portions arranged in mirror symmetry on each side of said single plane, each of said plate portions being pivotally mounted on said one of said jaws, on respectively spaced axes, for pivotal movement in a plane perpendicular to said single plane, said crescent-shaped plate means defining a central opening having boundary walls forming an anvil divided on said single plane and a generally V-shaped channel extending from said central opening toward the other of said jaws, said channel being defined by an opposed pair of rectilinear side walls having elongated rectilinear guide grooves formed therein to receive and align a wire located in said grooves; and,

. a die pin of substantially circular cross section mounted on said other of said jaws for movement through said channel in said single plane toward said central opening, said channel side walls and said guide grooves converging inwardly at an acute angle, said pin being movable to a position entirely within said central opening whereby said die heads may be pivoted in opposite directions to substantially completely close said channel with said die pin in said opening.

2. A hand tool as defined in claim 1 wherein said die pin is of tapered configuration to thereby facilitate removal of a wire loop formed therearound. 

1. A wire forming hand tool comprising: a. a pair of pliers with pivoted handles carrying two jaws for relative movement in a single plane toward and away from each other in response to hand action; b. A die head mounted on one of said jaws, said die head including substantially crescent-shaped plate means divided into two portions arranged in mirror symmetry on each side of said single plane, each of said plate portions being pivotally mounted on said one of said jaws, on respectively spaced axes, for pivotal movement in a plane perpendicular to said single plane, said crescent-shaped plate means defining a central opening having boundary walls forming an anvil divided on said single plane and a generally V-shaped channel extending from said central opening toward the other of said jaws, said channel being defined by an opposed pair of rectilinear side walls having elongated rectilinear guide grooves formed therein to receive and align a wire located in said grooves; and, c. a die pin of substantially circular cross section mounted on said other of said jaws for movement through said channel in said single plane toward said central opening, said channel side walls and said guide grooves converging inwardly at an acute angle, said pin being movable to a position entirely within said central opening whereby said die heads may be pivoted in opposite directions to substantially completely close said channel with said die pin in said opening.
 2. A hand tool as defined in claim 1 wherein said die pin is of tapered configuration to thereby facilitate removal of a wire loop formed therearound. 